One of the most impressive examples of collaboration is the Delaware Healthy Mothers and Infants Consortium (DHMIC). Formed in 2005 as a statewide vehicle to address infant mortality, the consortium includes approximately 150 members, including representatives from DPH, hospital systems, universities, the legislature, March of Dimes, and more.  The consortium has several committees addressing standards of care, health equity, education and prevention, and data and quality improvement. The Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative (DPQC) was initially established in 2011 as a subcommittee of the Delaware Healthy Mother and Infant Consortium (DHMIC).  In 2019 the DPQC was memorialized in state code as a freestanding organization. The DPQC is now constituted as an independent public instrumentality.  All seven birthing institutions in Delaware are members of the DPQC. The Collaborative is comprised of voting members appointed by member organizations.  Each member organization has one representative.  Delaware’s Perinatal Cooperative is a subcommittee of the consortium. Staff from the Family Health Systems Section of DPH staff these committees and support the partners in advancing shared work. Collectively, the DHMIC follows a life course model. (For more information, visit www.dethrives.com)  

In the domain of CYSHCN, a key partnership group is Family SHADE (Support and Healthcare Alliance Delaware), a collaborative alliance of family partners and organizations dedicated to supporting families of children with disabilities and chronic medical conditions.  However, the Family SHADE program has evolved over the last year and is now focusing on awarding mini-grants and providing the necessary technical assistance for the awardees to be successful.  Learning communities are also being offered to community organizations serving this population to get organizations an opportunity to learn and support each other as well.  The DHMIC, Family SHADE and the Delaware Early Childhood Council represent three of the largest groups of partners coming together around MCH issues, but there are many other advisory boards, councils, and coalitions that our MCH program works with to extend the reach of Title V, guide our work, and expand the overall capacity to support mothers, children, and families.  For example, the Help Me Grow Advisory Committee, convened by DPH, consists of representatives from organizations across the state. Similarly, the Home Visiting Community Advisory Board pulls together home visiting and partnering programs from across the state to ensure a coordinated continuum of home visiting services. In addition, the Governor’s appointed Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Board was created by legislation passed in 2012.  The Newborn Screening Advisory Council, formed in 2000, helps the Division determine best practices for the program including the addition of new conditions to the Delaware screening panel.

Additional key partnerships and collaborations include the Developmental Disabilities Council, the Sussex County Health Coalition, the Breastfeeding Coalition of Delaware and the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Board.

Champions for Young Children is a partnership of the Delaware Division of Public Health’s (DPH) Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Christina Cultural Arts Center, and Public Allies Delaware that seeks to engage community members in advocating for health, education, and well-being of children birth to age 8 years and their families. This partnership has helped parents within the community enhance their leadership skills and learn how to advocate for the health, education, and wellbeing of young children and their families.  Over two dozen parents have completed this training through the course of the ECCS program.

The Parent Information Center offers several ways for parents to be engaged including educational opportunities for parents to learn, engage with each other as well community providers.  Members of the Parent Information center workforce are parents themselves and bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

A very important activity for partnering with families is the Managed Care Organization Health calls facilitated by Delaware Family Voices, with the phone line provided by DPH. These regularly scheduled calls give family members an opportunity to ask a question or discuss an issue. On the call are representatives from various agencies and organizations to listen and help problem solve. These calls give families a non-adversarial venue discuss to share their concerns, and as a result many families get a better understanding of how the system works and the providers and policymakers hear how a family is impacted by rules and regulations.

The Department of Services for Children Youth and their Families (DSCYF) and the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) recognize that each Department has an important role to improve the lives of families impacted by substance abuse.  For this reason, the agencies entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 2016 developed for the agencies:

• To work as a team on shared client cases to attain the most positive outcome
• To provide each client with the most comprehensive care
• To prevent duplication of activities

Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) continues target families with Substance Use Disorder (SUD and substance exposed infants (SEI).  Families with SUD and/or a substance exposed infant need the support and benefits that home visiting programs provide as these infants can experience symptoms of withdraw that could include body shakes, fussiness, excessive crying or have a high-pitched cry, have breathing and feeding problems.  Delaware has developed NAS recommendations, which include referring any baby that had a positive drug screen and/or diagnosis of NAS prior to discharge.  Home Visiting programs have established relationships with hospitals and the child welfare office.  With the introduction of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) legislation, Delaware passed similar legislation in June 2018.  This legislation requires reporting all incidents of all infants born with substance exposure including not only opioids but also marijuana and alcohol.  Once child welfare receives the notification, discharge planning begins with the development of a plan of safe care.  A referral to home visiting services is completed as soon as possible so that is possible that first home visit is conducted prior to discharge or the home visitor is at least part of the discharge plan/meeting.  Individuals with substance abuse issues are being targeted by many programs with most of them being members of the Home Visiting Community Advisory Board and are struggling with engagement.  Strategies to engage these families are discussed at meetings and the acceptance rate for this population is monitored.  Our MIECHV Innovation grant revolved around working with the SUD population and as part of the project trainings were developed to support home visitors were developed.

In the spirit of Title V, we are committed to continuing these efforts to collaborate with families and consumers of our programs and services to ensure that our efforts and resources are aligned with the priority needs of Delaware’s mothers, children, and children and youth with special health care needs.